Attachment for upright pianos.



.Patented Oct. 7, I902;

Ne. 7|o,543.

A. A. VAN BUREN.

ATTACHMENT FOR UPRIGHT P IANOS.

[Applclt filed m 14 19021 (In Model.)

I 3511 attcznma UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT A. VAN BUREN, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

ATTACHMENT FOR UPRIGHT PIANOS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 710,543, dated October 7, 1902.

Application filed May 14,1902.

T0 aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known thatI,ALBERTA.VAN BUREN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Attachment for Upright Pianos, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an attachment for an upright piano by means of which the player is enabled to strike with each note (or with the notes in some parts of the keyboard) the octave above the note for which he touches the key, the object being to strengthen and enrich the sound or in runs of octaves to lighten the labor of the player. Such attachments are common in both pipe and reed organs. Some have also been patented for use in square or grand pianos; but the mechanism fitted for such instruments is not available for an upright piano. I understand that an invention has also been made by which octaves can be struck in an upright piano; but the apparatus is so complex that it requires too much effort in the performer to strike the upper note with the principal one, and it has therefore never come into use. I call the apparatusinvented by me an attachment, because it may be added to any upright piano without being part of its original structure and can be taken out at will. It may also be shifted out of position and put back into it by the use of a pedal or similar means; but I do not herein describe or claim the means of doing so, because such pedals or other appliances are too well known.

I attain the object indicated by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a perspective but nearly vertical view of the whole apparatus as it appears as seen from the rear of the piano. Fig. 2 shows a rocker of the piano with a part of the apparatus working upon it, also a keylever and dowel resting thereon, and I proceed to explain the parts as denoted by the letters of such figures.

In a frame, a part whereof is marked K, are the guide-boards I A A The long hook II shows how the lowest guide-board can be pulled or lifted so as to be taken out of the position for actual work. G G are the dowels for the rods g g,placed at the lower ends thereof Serial No. 107,255. (No model.)

and screwed to the same. Preferably these dowels are cushioned with cloth or with leather, and they will when the attachment is in use rest on the keys of the piano. The rods marked 9 g, having rounded hooks at their upper ends, are run through the holes J J in the lowest guide-board, so as to move therein with freedom and ease. The books at the upper ends of the rods g g are passed rather tightly through holes at the lower extremities of twice-bent rods which run upward through sleeves attached to the second and third guideboards A A as shown in the drawings. The narrow board or last B is attached to the third or highest guide-board at a suitable distance for greater certainty of motion. The first and rather short part of the bent rod is denoted by the letters C' C and runs when the apparatus is at rest in a direction nearly or quite horizontally from its junction with the rods g g toward the front or keyboard of the piano. A bend then occurs below the guideboard A, and the next part of the bent rods (denoted by the letters C 0) runs through sleeves on the sides of the guide-boards A A upward and toward the treble keys of the piano at such an angle that the bent parts or ends of the rods (marked C in the drawings) and fitted with flat extremities will strike the rocker an octave higher than the key upon which the dowels of the lower extremity of the lower rod rests. This rocker will throw the hammer against the proper string in the usual manner. The sleeves along the three guideboards may be replaced by holes in boards placed horizontally. The direction of the slant from the bass toward the treble keys shows that the drawingsgives a rear view of the attachment, as stated above.

To explain the working of the pitman and joint arrangement between the lower rods g and the bent rods 0, it need only be said that the rise of the lower rod will raise the lowerbent end of the corresponding upper rod, as shown by dotted lines in the drawings, and will thereby rotate the long middle part of this rod. This will turn the upper bent end upward, as shown in dotted lines in the drawings, and this upper bent end will thus be made to strike from below the rocker for the octave.

The apparatus will be set on the part of the keyboard back of the pivots or fulcra upon which the keys turn up and down when 7 struck; but the frame will be rested on parts of the piano-frame beyond the keyboard or be fastened to the side walls of the piano. The rear part of the keys that are struck will in this way lift the dowels G, and thus actuate the ends F F in the manner above explained. The pedal or other like means will be operated at the pleasure of the player by pushing or-pulling the whole apparatus on or 01f the rear part of the keys, and thus put the apparatus into or out of use.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In an attachment which fits into an upright piano the combination of three guide-boards in a frame, the lowest being pierced by vertical holes, corresponding to the piano-key under it, the two upper ones fitted with sleeves attached to their sides, in like number to the holes in the lowest guide-board: of upright rods standing on the rear parts of the pianokeys and coming up loosely through these holesrwith twice-bent rods joined to the upright rods, and running upward obliquely through the sleeves attached to the upper guide-boards in such a direction,that the bent ends at their upper extremities can strike the rocker for the octave above the note on which the corresponding upright rod rests: substantially as set forth in the specification. v

ALBERT A. VAN BUREN. Witnesses:

THos. W. WILSON, A. O. MAODOWELL, Jr. 

